Here’s Elena Shaddow, back at the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, again playing a role in "Twelfth Night." This time, she’s Olivia, the well-bred woman who falls in love with Caesario, unaware that "he" is actually Viola in disguise. In 2004, though, Shaddow was playing Viola. It wasn’t quite in "Twelfth Night," but in "Illyria," a musical version of the Bard’s comedy.

Nevertheless, Shaddow admits, "There are times during rehearsal when I hear Viola speak a line, and I think, ‘Hey, that’s mine!’ Or that I say a line that I recall someone once saying to me."

For this production, which will concludes the theater’s 2009 season, Shaddow actually came in to audition for Viola, figuring that she had a head start. Director Bonnie J. Monte knew the actress could do the role from seeing her do the musical. Monte, though, had other ideas. After Shaddow read for Viola, Monte suggested she try Olivia. Though the actress hadn’t prepared for this role, she did have that "Illyria" history to help her.

"It’s my first actual professional Shakespeare," Shaddow says excitedly. "I love the musicality of the language."

Shaddow knows musicals. In 2006, she played Lili in "Carnival" at the Paper Mill Playhouse. Before that she played Cosette in Broadway’s "Les Miserables" while a student at New York University. After graduation came roles in "Sweet Smell of Success" and "Nine."

"Ensemble and understudy work, mostly," she admits. "I wasn’t learning enough. So while leaving a Broadway show seemed crazy — who knew if I’d ever be back? — I had to find out if I could carry a show." So she played the female leads in "West Side Story" in Massachusetts, "My Fair Lady" in North Carolina and the aforementioned Lili at the Paper Mill.

Having proved to herself that she could indeed carry a show, Shaddow returned to Broadway and joined the ensembles of "Fiddler on the Roof" and "The Woman in White." Then came the plum role of Clara in the national tour of "The Light in the Piazza."

Performing is what Shaddow has wanted to do — and has been doing — since the age of 3 in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. "It’s badly named" she says. "It’s the happiest, most beautiful town, and I loved growing up there"

These days, Shaddow commutes from Brooklyn to do the role in Madison. She says she likes being back in familiar confines at the Shakespeare Theatre.

"It’s nice to be back acting with Steve Wilson, too," she says. "He was Orsino in ‘Illyria.’ Though now he has it a little easier than I — because he’s playing Orsino in this one, too."